VATICAN CITY — The body of Pope John Paul II, laid upon a blood-red velvet bier, was carried Monday in a solemn procession from the Vatican's Apostolic Palace and presented to a reverent public in St. Peter's Square.

The procession of priests and cardinals, helmeted Swiss Guards and candle-carrying monks snaked slowly through frescoed corridors and down marble staircases as a male choir chanted psalms and prayers in Latin. The body of the 84-year-old pope, who died two days ago in his bedroom in the palace, was held high by 12 white-gloved, black-suited men known as the pontifical chair-bearers.

As the bier entered the sunlight of St. Peter's Square, applause — a traditional Italian reaction to any momentous event — broke the silence. Just before entering St. Peter's Basilica, the pallbearers paused and turned the pope's body to face the crowd. Applause erupted again.

They lowered his body in front of the central altar, and shortly before 8 p.m., Vatican ushers opened the 16th-century basilica to tens of thousands of people who had filled St. Peter's Square, lined up on the broad boulevard leading to the Tiber River and flowed down a side street.

Many had waited more than eight hours to begin the slow approach to the basilica's doors.

To ensure that as many visitors as possible can see the pope before he is buried, the basilica will be open around the clock except from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., when it will be closed for what is described as "technical maintenance of the basilica," Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican's chief spokesman, said.

Alongside the historic ritual and public mourning, Monday was also a day of serious decision-making.

Inside the palace, the cardinals assumed temporary control of the church and took an oath of secrecy about their deliberations. They scheduled the pope's funeral and made it clear that the pope will be buried here, according to tradition, rather than in his native Poland, as some had speculated.

Reflecting the rich symbolism of the morning ceremony, Piero Marini, the master of papal liturgical ceremonies, chose for the pope's final viewing a red vestment John Paul often wore in carrying out the Stations of the Cross that represent Jesus' passion, Italian state television said.

A bishop's miter on his head, his feet turned outward awkwardly, the skin of his face chalky and drawn taut, the pope's body was placed in front of the central altar of St. Peter's Basilica. There, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the papal chamberlain, blessed him with holy water and incense and called the faithful to prayer.